Brooks Kerr, 66, April 28 in New York City. Duke Ellington once told a group of students “If you have any questions about my music just ask Brooks Kerr.” Left with limited sight due to a medical error in early infancy Kerr began to learn piano at age two, initially associating a color with each note.
After hearing a Folkways collection his parents owned he became fascinated with jazz and determined that Ellington's music was especially colorful. He first met his hero at age five and became a sidekick for the band, catching as many shows as possible. He began to apply an encyclopedic memory to Ellington's compositions, hounding the band to play obscure numbers from decades before. By his teenage years he was touring with them. Towards the end of his life, Duke chose Kerr to sit in for him at events he was too ill to attend.
His musical interest expanded to include the stride piano styles of James P. Johnson and Fats Waller. As he told it to the New York Times in 1974, “I was trying to play stride when I was 7, 8, 9, but my hands weren't big enough. When I was 12, I was finally able to reach the notes—the tenths. This was more important to me than adolescent puberty. I knew then that I could arrive.”
Being flown to Washington to celebrate Duke Ellington's 70th birthday at the White House made him stand out from other students, even at the elite Dalton School. He was c
